Mario's Cafe

Mario’s Café in Kentish Town, North London, is a very special place, a meeting place for a community that ranges from plumbers to rock stars, from vagrants to families, a little island of resistance against the onslaught of corporate culture. Started by his Italian grandfather in the 50’s, Mario has been running the tiny cafe for the last twenty years.

Mario makes his espressos and waits for the waitress who is always late and who he swears he’ll fire but never will, he talks about how he never intended to end up running a café and wonders if he’ll ever leave. As the day continues we witness the extraordinary affection between Mario and his customers and realise that Mario’s is more than just a café.

Mario’s Café was shot by Roland Denning, filmmaker and regular customer, over nine days in HDV on a Sony Z7.